The One Where Ben Learns
by KateToast
Summary: Rachel finally tells Ben what happened between she and Ross over a real pitcher of margaritas. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer**: I still really, really don't own them.

**A/N**: Wicked random one-shot that I decided to write after watching _TOW the Truth About London_ and being reminded of Rachel's line to Ben, "One day I'll tell you the whole story over a pitcher of real margaritas." (Also: writer's block is a bitch.) This has been done a few times before, I know, but I still wanted to attempt it myself. I really think that, after Ross and Rachel get married for real (in my mind, they totally have), she and Ben would maybe become closer.

Takes place in the same future I've been writing in for... all of my other post-finale Friends stories.

**XXX**

Ben stepped over the threshold into his father's apartment with a yawn. He'd just spent another evening at his Aunt Monica's house with all of his dad's friends, just like he always did when he was here. It wasn't that Ben didn't like Aunt Monica and Uncle Chandler and Uncle Joey and Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Rachel, or that they didn't love him, but sometimes… they made him _tired_.

The five-year-old put down his action figure he'd brought with him as his dad brought the plate of cookies Aunt Monica had sent them off with in the kitchen. Ben followed and leaned against one of the counters, watching Ross put the cookies in a jar.

"So did you have fun tonight Ben?" he asked.

Ben shrugged. "I guess."

Ross turned to look at his son, and then bent a little so they were nearly eye-level. He handed him a cookie as he suggested, "How 'bout we watch a movie, huh?"

At this, Ben smiled. "Yeah! I'll pick it out." He ran into the living room and was selecting a video before Ross had even left the kitchen.

As he scanned through the titles, Ben's thoughts strayed to the evening he'd just had. It had been nothing out of the ordinary, though Aunt Monica and Uncle Chandler were always kissing or touching or sitting together now that they were engaged. Being only five, this sort of grossed Ben out. And then of course there was Aunt Phoebe, who had played her newest song for him, and Uncle Joey, who wanted to discuss how great the Knicks were every time Ben was near.

The weirdest part of the night was when his dad and Aunt Rachel had gotten into a little fight about if they were "on a break" or not, whatever that meant. Aunt Monica had made them calm down quick enough and sent a furtive glance towards Ben. The kid wasn't stupid; he knew that what they had argued about, Aunt Monica didn't want him to hear.

Which made it all the more interesting…

"Hey Dad?" Ben asked after he'd picked out Toy Story and popped it into the VCR. He sat beside his father on the couch.

"Yeah?"

"When we were at Aunt Monica's…"

"Uh huh."

"What were you and Aunt Rachel fighting about?"

At this, Ross spluttered and stared at his son. "Uh…"

"'Cause you guys said something about being on a break. Why would you fight about that?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Ross moved so he was half-facing his son. "Well, Ben… when you were really little, Aunt Rachel and I… were going out."

Ben was confused. Going out? "Like my moms?"

"No…," Ross said slowly.

"Like Aunt Monica and Uncle Chandler?"

"Sort of, except… we weren't engaged- going to get married- yet."

"You were gonna marry Aunt Rachel?" Ben asked, surprised.

"Uh, well… I guess…," Ross admitted, feeling foolish and wanting to end this conversation now. "We dated, which is before getting engaged and getting married. You go out with somebody… to see if you _want_ to marry them."

Ben prided himself in being a pretty smart five-year-old, and so he nodded with acceptance. "So why didn't you ever get married?"

"Well… some stuff happened, and… we decided not to be together anymore and just be friends again." Ross clicked on the TV and Toy Story began.

However, Ben was not finished with this conversation. "So why do you guys fight sometimes about if you were on a break or not? I've heard you talking about it a bunch of times."

Ross paused the screen. "When Aunt Rachel and I broke up… well, she said we should take a break and figure some stuff out. And so we… took a break." He locked eyes with Ben and said seriously, "We _were_ on a break, no matter what she says."

"Okay," Ben agreed with a shrug. Why shouldn't he believe his dad? Satisfied with the answers he'd received, Ben turned towards the TV.

"Is that all?"

"Yup. We can watch the movie now."

**XXX**

Ben stepped over the threshold into his father's house with a yawn. He'd just come from unpacking a few things at his moms' apartment, and now lugged a large duffel bag full of stuff he'd need for a week-long stay here at his dad's house.

It was early evening now, but Ben felt tired enough to go to bed. He'd spent all morning on a plane, and then all afternoon emptying the contents of the boxes he'd brought home with him. He let his duffel bag fall from his shoulder and hit the kitchen's wooden floor with a thud.

"So, Ben, how does it feel to be done with college?"

The twenty-two-year-old looked up from rubbing the back of his sore neck at the question, and met the gaze of his Aunt Rachel. Of course, she was no longer 'Aunt Rachel'; now she was 'Step-Mom Rachel'. She'd met him outside as he'd gotten out of the cab with a motherly hug he'd gotten used to receiving from her, though she'd acted as if they hadn't _just_ seen each other at his college graduation the prior week.

"Kind of odd, actually. I feel like I have a paper due next week, except… I don't," he said as he walked over to the same cookie jar that had been in his dad's old apartment and retrieved a cookie, fresh from Aunt Monica. "It's weird though, because I just unpacked at the apartment, and now I'm gonna be re-packing in two weeks and leaving to start with that program."

"Oh, the one where you're designing and building houses for places like Haiti?" Rachel questioned with interest.

"Yeah. I'm sort of nervous."

"Don't be, you're great at designing, and houses are your specialty. Soon enough you'll be snatched up by some snobbish architectural company and you'll be so successful you won't have time for your family anymore," Rachel teased.

"Yes, well, career _and_ family? That's just too much for one guy to handle," he responded in jest. "So, where is everyone?" he asked after finishing his cookie, surprised to have not been bowled over by at least one other member of the Geller family.

"Oh, you know how it is… end of the year and all that," Rachel said with a wave of her hand as she rummaged through the refrigerator. "I was lucky enough to get out of work early, but Ross had a late meeting. Emma's doing a project at the library with some friends, Sean's at soccer practice, and Jen is down the street at the neighbor's. They'll all be back soon."

"How is Ralph Lauren?" Ben questioned, munching on his second cookie and leaning against the counter. He and Rachel hadn't gotten a chance to speak at his graduation, and he was glad to be spending this week here in Westchester so he could catch up with his family.

"Oh, you know, still standing," Rachel said simply, turning to face him and crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm taking a week off soon, though, when the kids start summer vacation." Her eyes lit up as she thought of something. "I think we need to celebrate you being done with college with a drink. Oh, but all we've got is margarita mix… well, we can be a little different tonight, right? Take a break from the normal cocktails."

Ben grinned at this and nodded. Something was ringing a bell in his mind, however, at her words. Margaritas… taking a break… why did those seem to go together? "Sounds great. I haven't had a good margarita in a while. But please, don't make them as strong as last summer… ugh, my stomach hurt for _days _after that."

Rachel laughed as she reached for the blender. "That was _all_ Chandler, I swear. He added a few extra shots of tequila when I wasn't looking."

They made a pitcher of margaritas with friendly conversation as Ben kept trying to figure out why all of this seemed familiar to him. Suddenly, as Rachel was pouring some into a glass for him, it clicked. "You know what I just remembered?"

"What's that?" Rachel asked with a smile as she sipped her own drink.

"When I was little… once, you baby-sat me, remember? And the pranks?"

"Oh, how could I forget? You and your father gave me a real scare with that dummy," Rachel reminisced good-naturedly. "I think that was the only time I ever baby-sat you alone."

"Yeah, well, I remember… you said you'd tell me the real story of you and Dad's perpetual 'on a break/not on a break' fight over a pitcher of margaritas." Ben was grinning at his step-mother, who had become a bit uncomfortable as he'd spoken. "Come on, you gotta tell me. We're drinking margaritas, no one else is around… I won't repeat it to anyone, I promise."

Rachel sighed and set her glass down. "Fine. I'm only agreeing to this because you are a mature adult. But you may regret this later," she warned.

"I've been wanting to know since I was five. Now come on, let's hear it."

"Okay," Rachel started. "Well, your dad and I dated for about a year, when you were really young. Like, one or two, so that's why you don't remember. It took us forever to finally actually get together in the first place, because I only found out he liked me after he'd left for a dig in China right after you were born. So by the time he got back… well, he had a new girlfriend, who I was insanely jealous of because _I_ wanted your dad. So he dated her for a while, until finally I left him this drunken message on his answering machine, which he listened to when I was in the room, so it made for quite an awkward moment. Well, he had to choose… and he did."

"He chose you," Ben said.

"Yes. Except… well, he broke up with Julie, the girlfriend from the China dig, but then right after he told me they were over I found this _horrible_ pro/con list he made with Chandler and Joey…"

"Dad made a pro/con list? About _you_?" Ben asked incredulously.

"Yup," Rachel confirmed, shaking her head. "But that's beside the point. So finally after a few weeks of torture, we actually got together… and it was great. I knew by our third date that we were gonna get married, that's how sure I was of him. Actually, I was there when you said your first word."

"I've heard… several times," Ben added.

Rachel shrugged. "So we were together for nearly a year, but then I got a job at Bloomingdales working with this guy named Mark, whom your dad was instantly jealous of. We had fight after fight until I couldn't take it anymore, so I suggested we take a break but he stormed out of the apartment before we could even talk about it… and overnight I, of course, realized my mistake. But then I found out… and please remember, this was a long time ago and we've all moved past it so don't hold it against him… he slept with another woman."

Ben's jaw literally dropped and his empty margarita glass nearly slipped out of his hand. "_What_? Dad? My dad? Slept with another woman _right_ after your break up?"

"No, no, no, we hadn't broken up!" Rachel clarified as she poured some more of the drink from the blender into his glass. "I guess he thought we had, but he left so quickly we didn't have a chance to even discuss it! We were _not_ officially on a break!"

"So you're saying he cheated on you?"

"… In a sense, yes," Rachel admitted, downing the rest of her drink. "Well, let me tell you, it was a horrible break up. And then we tried to make each other jealous… we were really immature back then. Then Emily came into our lives… and I was still in love with him…"

Ben nodded, already having heard that story. "And somewhere down the road you guys got together, thus Emma? It was right before Monica and Chandler's wedding, right?"

Rachel sighed. "Yeah… see, I had totally forgotten to send out the invitations, but I suddenly remembered after we all had read Monica and Chandler's vows. Well, there were only four weeks left until the wedding, so I rushed back to the apartment with the invitations and envelopes and-"

The door flew open and in came a muddy Sean in his soccer uniform, trailing dirt inside from his cleats. Behind him was Jen, who had some mud smeared across her face and shirt. "Mom! Sean tried to hug me and he's all muddy and gross!"

"Sean…" Rachel said tiredly, sharing a Look with Ben.

The two siblings finally noticed their older half-brother, and both launched themselves at him. "Ben!" Jen shouted as she latched on to his waist, the nine-year-old only reaching up to his stomach.

"Hey, Jenny-Bean, Seany," Ben greeted warmly.

"When did you get here?" Sean asked with a grin as he and Ben did the secret handshake they'd made up a while ago.

"An hour ago," Ben responded, tousling the eleven-year-old's hair. "Your mom's been keeping me company."

"Well now you can hang out with us!" Jen said happily.

The kitchen door swung open again, this time revealing Emma, who was carrying a large, colorful poster board, and Ross, who was hanging up his cell phone as his briefcase fell to the floor.

"Hey Ben!" he called after he had picked up the fallen briefcase. The two men hugged briefly, and then Emma threw her arms around her half-brother in excitement as Ross kissed his wife hello.

"Ben! Oh my God, we have so much to talk about," Emma said as Jen and Sean nodded along and started pushing him out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Specifically about our last e-mail exchange," she added cryptically, her eyebrows raised.

Ben grinned at their enthusiasm, but looked back once quickly and his eyes met his step-mother's. They shared a secret smile, which prompted Ross to look between Rachel and Ben suspiciously. He turned away and was practically thrown down on the couch as all three younger Gellers spoke a mile and minute.

His head felt a little light-headed from the alcohol as Rachel's story played in the back of his mind, and suddenly Ben found himself understanding the past actions of his father and step-mother much better than he ever had.

**XXX**


End file.
